Alexia gave Devon’s hand a squeeze and moved toward the door. He didn’t object, but his jaw ticked, and Alexia could have kissed him right then and there. She took a step back toward Devon and pulled him close.
“I won’t be long, and you know there’s nothing between Nicky and me anymore, okay?”
Devon’s jaw was still tight, but he nodded, and then he moved his hand to Alexia’s hair even as his other hand moved to her hip. She felt him pull her in slowly, a seduction, and the room fell away as his eyes met hers and steadily, at almost a snail’s pace, his lips touched hers.
She’d thought the kiss would be either passionate and possessive or slow and methodical. Instead, the kiss was natural, like breath, like air, like floating down a lazy river. Any other kiss would have fired her nerves. Instead, this kiss felt like home, like safety, like the knowledge that life would go on no matter how many struggles they all encountered.
“See you soon, Red,” Devon said, nuzzling her hair like the Man Bear he was and giving her a kiss on the forehead. What else could she do but smile like a lovesick schoolgirl and walk slowly out of the room?
Oh, he hadn’t kissed her in a passionate frenzy. No. And he hadn’t kissed her with deliberate slowness. No. But he’d claimed her just the same. Her chest warmed, and she broke into a smile. She’d been worried for a while there that she would never again be able to feel the catapulting, heart-stopping, safety of love and connection with a man, but Devon had changed that with one kiss. He’d awoken more than her passion, more than her need for a relationship. No, in that one kiss, he’d shown he could be her passion, her partner, her home, and instead of being scared, she was downright happy with the revelation.
She stepped out into the cool spring night, and she realized that in her running away, she hadn’t spent much time outside the past few days. Having always preferred being outside, she took a long, deep breath of fresh air into her lungs, and it was like crack to her ravaged system.
She walked down the steps to the first floor of the motel, and she could hear the clicking of the crickets in the grassy knolls that looked unkempt and abandoned. Nicky hid in the shadows, his body almost invisible, but his presence was so strong he couldn’t be missed.
“Lex, nice of you to finally take the time,” he said as he came out of the shadows. Alexia blew out a breath impatiently. So, this was the way it was going to go.
“Really, Nicky? I’ve had a lot of shit going on, and you want to make yourself out to be the injured party? You freaked when I said the name Uncle Grover, a man I still don’t even know exists. You turned into a wolf. You’re hanging out with shady men and randomly showing up after eight years of being completely absent. You think we’re just going to start where we left off, Nicky? You broke my heart. You broke me. It took me years to get over you, and we are not starting there.” Alexia didn’t even bother to hide her pissed off. If Nicky was going be a bonafide douchebag, she was out of this conversation.
“Is he your mate?” Nicky asked, referring to Devon, and he wasn’t angry or sad. He looked happy for her. That face was the only thing that saved him from her walking away.
“Yep,” Alexia said, sitting down on the edge of the motel walkway. She didn’t share that the “mate” thing was new or that they were fated mates. He didn’t deserve that information. That was between her and Devon. “And he’s a good man. But that’s not why you’re here.” She left the conversation open for him to share. It was time. He blew out a breath. Guess he thought it was time as well.
“Graham wanted me to wait. He said you needed to be ready to hear everything, but I think you’re ready. It’s why we let you go that night in the forest.”
“Graham…” Alexia began. “He was the half-man monster who turned into the wolf that night the Skröm attacked, right?”
Nicky paused and side-stepped the question. “You met James tonight.”
She nodded, albeit stiffly. “The ex-future Vuković Councilor himself.” She looked out on the parking lot and silently asked because she already knew the answer. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Yes. Graham and I knew you were James’ daughter, but I didn’t know until after you and I were together. I found out a lot after that summer. I’m sorry, Lex.”
“We can’t change it now, Nicky. Just tell me what you have to tell me.” She didn’t want to rehash the past again. She’d done it enough for the both of them years ago, and now she was moving on.
“Straight to the point,” he said, smiling. The scar on his chin was stiff. Hell, the smile was stiff. Like he hadn’t moved his face in quite that way in a while. “You haven’t changed all that much, Lex.”
“I’ve changed a lot, Nicky.” And instead of cringing at the thought of just how much she had changed, she instead felt a flutter of happiness at the knowledge that she had survived and come so far. “I know more now, so stop hiding things from me.”
“All right,” he said, his eyes going dark and a growl in voice. He wasn’t angry. Alexia could sense that. But he was worried. About displeasing her. Strange. “Well, I guess the best place to start is with Uncle Grover. You said the name at your birthday party, and I knew you were remembering things. Graham Vuković is who you called Uncle Grover while you lived with Mally, and you spent a lot of time at his cabin at the edge of Dunham. I know you don’t remember. The accident did something to you, I think.”
“Graham Vuković… James mentioned a Graham earlier. His youngest brother…” A man James hadn’t spoken to in almost forty years if she recalled correctly. “So, he’s my real uncle then?” she asked. “I’m assuming James doesn’t know you’re friendly with his youngest brother?”
“No, and I want to ask you to keep that between us for now,” he urged. “We’re trying to find out who’s committing these murders, and Graham doesn’t trust James and his little makeshift family—”
“You mean my mate’s makeshift family,” she interrupted angrily. Goddamned Nicky and his secrets. “You don’t trust Devon’s family. My biological father’s family. Are you serious? How are we supposed to trust you two and whoever else you’re working with? You show up right around the time of the murders, but my mate’s family is suspicious?” She blew out a breath. “I can’t promise to keep this to myself.”
“Fair enough,” he conceded. “Look, a lot of this information I learned after you and I were together, but Mally was mated to Graham. He loved her beyond reason. Still does.”
Hearing Mally’s name brought tears to her eyes, and to find out she’d been mated to a Vuković… To say she was shocked was an understatement. It had been a long time since she’d heard someone else talk about Mally, and it was bittersweet having another speak her name. At one point in her life, Mally had been Alexia’s everything, and for a moment, she was back in that dream. She was back to seeing Mally dead on the road as wolves circled them. And she mourned her loss again. But Alexia also felt a little lighter knowing that Mally had had someone, a mate, to make life easier.
“She was human, though, and that’s why Graham left the Clan. Graham’s family – James’ family – can be a little prejudiced. If you thought it was bad that a Skröm got together with a Vuković, it would have been worse for Graham. Mating a human is a bit like Russian roulette. You know we live a long time, right? As long as we aren’t Dormants and we’ve become Clan? As long as we’ve experienced the change?”
“Yes, Devon shared that awesome bit of information.” Alexia actually did think it was awesome. Scary, but awesome. It would be great to live through hundreds of years and see how the world changed.
“So, the thing with humans – something the Skröm found out early on, since they’re more likely to mate with humans…well, what do you know of mating?”
Alexia recalled what Devon had told her, and she shared some of the history she had learned, but Nicky added, “So a human-Clan mating can vary from couple-to-couple. A mating can go either way.”
“That’s what Devon said. He said tha
t sometimes, the human takes on the characteristics of their mate, like when a human who is part Skröm takes blood for the first time, and becomes full Skröm.”
“And those mated humans can live a long time with some of the strengths, but again, it can go either way.” Alexia followed along with what he was saying, and she had a feeling she knew what he was going to say. She’d met Graham…Uncle Grover…and he’d looked much older than the other Clan members she’d met, who typically seemed to stop aging around 30 years. “Graham went the other way. He lost his long life, and as long as Mally was alive, he was okay with that. Even if he hadn’t lost his long life, though, his family would have shunned him. Vuković do not mate with humans. Other Clan members definitely, but not the Skröm and not humans.”
“So, wait. Graham’s lifespan is still shorter even though Mally…” She cleared her throat. “Even though Mally died,” Alexia whispered.
“Yes, that’s the way it works. When you mate, your soul becomes one with the other person. It’s why a lot of humans mated to the Skröm go crazy – darkness and all that. So, Graham is just waiting to move on and join Mally, but he’s trying to help while he’s here. That’s why he looks older than James. He won’t live hundreds of years. He’ll live a normal, human lifespan.”
“Wow,” she said, trying to wrap her head around the mating bond and its complexities. “It’s so sad, but also beautiful that he loved her so much. Mally had that effect on people,” she said with a teary-eyed smile.
Nicky smiled lightheartedly, and the look was so the opposite of the man he had become that she couldn’t help the brightening of her own smile. “She was always kind and funny, and she used to make the best pancakes.”
“With chocolate chips…” Alexia trailed off. “I’d forgotten about you, you know? When we were little, I mean. And I hate to bring it up because I’m trying to be all grown up, but why did you date me when we were eighteen, knowing you had known me as a kid and that I didn’t remember?”
“Lex,” he said, and his expression was so sincere. “I couldn’t ever forget you, and when we were younger, we were best friends. Once I saw you again, I had to be with you. A part of me knew it was wrong, but when I realized you didn’t remember me or your uncle or any of it, I had to try to get to know you again. I had to try and jog your memories. The problem was, I realized I’d only be hurting you, and Graham said it would be dangerous if you knew. He said it would be a catalyst for your change and that you weren’t ready yet.”
“Well, Graham sure seems to think a lot of himself, doesn’t he?” she said, grimly. “He gets to decide what people need or don’t need, what they’re ready for.”
“He doesn’t mean anything by it. His life is shorter than ours, though, and I think having once thought he was going to have a nice, long life and now realizing his time here is so short, he just sees things differently.”
Alexia understood what Nicky was saying, but there were still too many unanswered questions. “It’s still fishy, Nicky, and I don’t like the games he’s playing. So, just tell me about the murders, and tell me why I need to keep this from James and Devon.”
“All right. The night Mally died, it was wolves—”
“Vuković Clan?” she asked, not liking where this story was leading.
“Yes, three of them. Do you remember that from what has been coming back to you?”
“Yes. I remember wolves,” she confirmed. “I also remember Uncle Grover being one of those wolves.”
“Yes. He was there, but he came after the accident. It was other wolves who caused it. That many wolves? It’s not a coincidence. Someone knew who Mally was… She was targeted by the Vuković.”
“But James was already out of the family by then. He didn’t have a motive. He’d moved on. He’d changed his name,” Alexia said, defensively. She didn’t trust James fully yet either, but she trusted Devon, and Devon trusted James. That was more trust than she was willing to giving Nicky or her Uncle Graham right now. Alexia would trust Devon with her life.
“James was out of the family, or so he says—”
“No, he definitely was. I know things you don’t.”
“You mean like the fact that he killed your mother?” he asked, calmly yes, but also with a degree of manipulation that cut deep. Alexia felt those words like a punch to her gut.
“What the fuck, Nicky? Yes, like that fact! You think I didn’t know that? You think you can cut to my emotions by so bluntly asking that question?” Alexia asked, fury rolling through her. “What the hell happened to you these last eight years? The old Nicky wouldn’t have been so cold and callous.”
The harshness in his expression didn’t abate. The only change was the slight darkening of his eyes and a soul-shattering silence that would have broken her heart had she not been so fucking pissed at him. “A lot happened to me, Lex. And a lot happened to others because of me, but that’s for another time,” he said as his sarcastic smile went hard again. “I’m sorry, though. That was uncalled for. I was just trying to get you to see that James has a lot of secrets.”
“We all do, Nicky,” she argued back. “This whole world is full of amazing things, but it’s also full of more lies than I’ve ever had to hold onto. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t trade Devon or even James, even though I just found him, but we all have a lot of goddamned secrets.”
“Yeah. Shit, yeah. That’s fair,” Nicky said, relenting, “but what you don’t know about the three wolves who were there that night is that at least one of them is part of James’ family.”
Alexia didn’t want to ask, but she had to know. “What do you mean? One of the wolves who killed Mally knew James?”
“Yes, and he’s here tonight. Reece Morgan was one of the three wolves sent to kill Mally. He was one of the wolves who ran out into the road. One of the wolves who caused the wreck. One of the wolves who killed her. So, that’s why we don’t trust James and his family. They aren’t as good as you think they are.” Her mind was reeling. Mally had been killed because the wolves had caused the wreck. She’d seen the wolves in her dreams of course, but she still hadn’t figured out how much of the dream had been real and how much had been her imaginings because of the new world she was in. And now, she’d learned that one of her own…Clan members…a fellow wolf, had killed the woman who’d restored her faith in humanity, in herself.
“If he’s really involved, Nicky… Fuck… If he’s really involved…I’ll kill him myself,” she rasped. Her voice had gone lower, animalistic, and Alexia could feel prickly fur growing on her arms and legs. Her wolf still wouldn’t come out, but the partial shift was happening again.
If Reece had had anything to do with Mally’s death, he was a dead man. Living without Mally had been hell. The Martinezes had been a saving grace, the family she’d needed, but Mally had been the first mother she’d ever known. So, yeah, she’d kill Reece, and she wouldn’t feel even a smidgen of guilt.
She felt his hands as they reached out in comfort, but she stepped away at the touch. She was afraid his touch would hurt like Cams – all electricity and pain. Like what she had experienced the night after Professor Anderson’s vigil.
She brushed it off and looked at Nicky straight on. She needed to know what had happened to Mally, to Professor Anderson, and what was going on in her town. She took a steadying breath.
“Okay,” she said. “So, but what does all this have to do with the murders?”
“All the victims were Dormants from various Clans.”
Alexia’s jaw dropped. “What?! How?”
“Dormants are rare. Even if a Dormant is half human, or half of another Clan, they’re Clan side or one of their Clan sides is normally dominant, genetically. However, over several generations, whole lines of Clans can dry up if they don’t come into their gifts. Dormants are Clan members, or I guess potential Clan members, who have never been changed. Their DNA never activated. Again, this is rare. Exposure to the world and the choice to change are often the catalyst for be
coming Clan. You don’t just – poof! – become a Clan member when you’re a Hybrid. But the Clan blood is strong and most Dormants already have some gifts, even if they’re small. Once introduced to the world, the majority don’t stay dormant. For most Clan members, the change occurs in adolescence, but Hybrids need that initial catalyst. For the Luna, the change means choosing an animal and going through their first transformation. For the Skröm, it’s drinking blood for the first time. For the Vuković, it’s becoming one with your wolf and finding the trigger that turns you. Each Clan has a ritual for its members, including those who were Hybrids, but you never had that. You were put back in the foster system before puberty, and Graham thought you would be safer there.”
“So, why do you think the fact that the victims are Dormants means that these deaths are related to Mally? They don’t sound connected at all.”
“Graham saw Shadows hidden in the woods the night Mally was killed. They were aiding the wolves. Had in fact been brought as backup. Your uncle saw the one wolf who got away join them and run off. The Shadows he saw – well, the thing is Shadows are basically exactly what they sound like – big, dark, smoky blobs – but they’re also more than that. If you look close enough, a brand sits on their right forearm. This brand is thought to be their tie to this world. When a Skröm dies, we know that they become a Shadow.
“Jump back to a Skröm’s adolescent years. That is when they chose their Skröm family, who they belong to. As a part of their adolescent ritual – because the Clans really like ritual in general and the Skröm are no exception – the Skröm is branded with the crest of the family they’ve chosen…on their right forearm. So, there may only be one Councilor for the Skröm on the Clan Council, but there are ruling classes within the Skröm Clan itself—”
“Yes,” Alexia exclaimed, interrupting. She remembered this from the original lesson. “The Zolanskis, the Darmovs, the Macredes, and the Taos… Did I pass?” she asked.
The Devil's Pride (Wild Beasts Series) Page 21
